The scrap of thick paper felt like a hot piece of coal burning against the palm of Kaelen's bandaged hand. She stared at the simple words, written in that sharp, elegant handwriting she knew so well.
"There is a traitor amongst us, only one I could believe is you. Aeryn"
Kaelen's breath caught in her throat. The air in the tent suddenly felt twice as cold. Only minutes ago, she had been fueled by a burning anger. She had believed she was discarded, left behind like a piece of garbage by a Queen who didn't care. But this note changed everything.
If the Queen believed Kaelen was the only one she could trust, then she hadn't abandoned her out of cruelty. She had left her behind to protect her. She had left her because the capital, the camp, and the entire court were crawling with snakes.
Suddenly, the silence of the tent was broken.
The sound of footsteps on the gravel outside cut through the quiet. It was Petra returning from the supply wagon.
In an instant, Kaelen's mind went into a wild, terrifying spiral. Her eyes locked onto the tent flap, her heart hammering against her ribs like a trapped bird. Every footstep felt like a countdown. She stared toward the door, and for the first time, a dark, heavy suspicion settled in her chest.
Could Petra be the traitor? The thought hit her like a splash of freezing water. Why was Petra still here? Why had she stayed behind with her when everyone else left? The questions started coming fast and furious, each one more toxic than the last.
Why was Petra so quick to tell her that the Queen had called her a "broken tool"? Why was she so eager to make Kaelen angry at Aeryn? It felt deliberate. It felt like Petra was systematically dripping poison into her ears, trying to cut her off from the only life she had ever known.
And it wasn't just the Queen. Petra had been backbiting all of them. She had spoken badly about Maris, about the physicians, and about the other loyal soldiers who had sailed with them. "They left us here to die in the dirt," Petra had said. But was that the truth, or was she just trying to isolate Kaelen? Was she trying to make Kaelen hate her own comrades so she would have no one left to turn to except Petra?
If Petra was the traitor, then everything she had said was a lie designed to turn Kaelen into a rogue weapon.
Crunch. Crunch. The footsteps were right outside now.
Kaelen quickly slid the folded paper deep into the sleeve of her shirt, forcing her face to go completely blank and calm. She had to bury her panic, her suspicion, and her rage. When the tent flap finally rustled open, Kaelen looked up with a mask of perfect, stone-cold indifference.
Petra stepped inside, holding a cracked wooden bowl. "I couldn't find a strong medicine, but I managed to cook this," Petra said, her voice warm and steady as she walked across the tent. "It will help with the dark rot in your blood. You need to keep your strength up if we're going to make it to the border."
Petra set the bowl down on a small wooden crate next to the bed.
Kaelen looked down at it, and a cold shiver went straight to her bones. The porridge looked incredibly strange—it was gray and thick, and a pale, ghost-like mist was rising from it, swirling around like steam. But when Kaelen reached out, her fingers hovering near the bowl, there was no heat. In fact, when her skin brushed the edge of the wood, it felt like pure ice. The steam was a lie. It was a trick from a strange herb or some dark magic. It was freezing to the touch.
Is she trying to poison me? Kaelen's mind screamed. Or is she trying to put me to sleep so I never reach Sahirra?
"What is this?" Kaelen asked, her voice tight, her eyes locked on the swirling gray mist.
"A root blend," Petra replied simply, turning her back to adjust the straps on her backpack. "Ground up from the deep soil. It pulls the heat out of a fever. Eat it. We don't have much time."
Kaelen picked up the wooden spoon, her hand shaking from sheer weakness and fear. She lifted a small scoop of the gray muck, watching the cold smoke roll off it. Petra was still busy with her bag, her back completely turned. Kaelen raised the spoon to her mouth, made a loud swallowing sound, and then quickly tilted her wrist, letting the gray soup slide off the spoon and disappear into the dark folds of her thick blanket right next to her leg.
She stirred the bowl again, making the spoon clatter loudly against the wood to make it sound like she was eating. "It has a bitter taste," Kaelen muttered, forcing herself to make an ugly face so Petra would believe her.
"The best medicine always does," Petra said over her shoulder, completely missing the trick. "Eat as much as you can. The horses are ready."
Kaelen did the exact same thing twice more, pretending to swallow and making sure the bowl looked messy and eaten. She set the spoon down, her heart beating a wild, terrified rhythm. She had survived the dark magic of the void, but the mental fear of betrayal was already eating her alive. She couldn't trust the food. She couldn't trust the camp. She couldn't trust the woman standing right in front of her.
"I'm done," Kaelen said, pushing the bowl away. "Let's go."
"Good," Petra said, turning around and taking the bowl. She didn't look closely at the blanket. "We need to move before the hot sun hits the sand hills."
The walk out of the tent was a slow, painful torture, but it was nothing compared to the nightmare of getting on the horses.
Two dark brown horses stood tied near the edge of the empty camp, their ears twitching in the hot, dry wind. Standing beside them, Kaelen felt her knees give out. Her body felt completely empty, her muscles ruined by the dark magic that had leaked from the shadow-man's chest.
"Let me help you," Petra said, stepping in close and grabbing Kaelen by the waist.
The moment Petra's hands touched her, Kaelen's body went rigid. She had to fight the violent urge to draw her knife and drive it into Petra's throat. She forced herself to stay still, letting Petra lift her up, but the physical strain of mounting the horse was a sudden, blinding explosion of agony. As her leg swung over the saddle, the muscles in her stomach locked up.
She let out a sharp, painful gasp, grinding her teeth together so hard her jaw clicked. It wasn't a sharp pain she could point to with a single finger; it was a vast, heavy, weakening ache that spread from her lower back, through her hips, and deep into her legs. It felt as if her bones had been replaced with heavy lead and her veins were filled with liquid fire.
The pain was diffused and weakening a deep, thrumming exhaustion that she couldn't pinpoint, yet it made every single muscle in her body feel completely useless. Every movement of the horse beneath her shook her bruised spine, making her vision go dark at the edges. She panted heavily, trying to blink away the black spots in her eyes.
"Are you alright?" Petra asked, looking up at her from the ground as she fixed the foot straps.
"Fine," Kaelen gasped, her knuckles turning white as she gripped the leather reins.
Her hands, still wrapped in Petra's rough bandages, could barely feel the leather. She had to squeeze her fists with every ounce of strength left in her body just to keep from dropping the reins. She forced herself to sit perfectly straight, her shadow stretching long and fragile across the red dirt, hiding the violent shaking of her arms.
Petra climbed onto her own horse, her eyes searching the empty camp one last time. "Sahirra is three days south through the mountain pass. Keep your head down, and keep your pace steady."
Kaelen didn't answer. She gripped the reins, her eyes locked on the back of Petra's neck as the horses started to walk forward. The journey had begun, but the real fight wasn't against the desert or the long road. It was against the snake riding right next to her.
"Let's go," Kaelen whispered to the wind, her voice lost in the creak of the leather and the steady, heavy sound of horse hooves heading into the wild.
I work hard to keep this story going for everyone. If you find it interesting, kindly consider supporting this work with a cup of coffee. Every contribution helps me improve and grow 🤝
patreon accuscripter